Purpose:
Color vision may relate to the development of myopia. To investigate this relationship, we conducted a survey of high school students and compared the refractive status of students with congenital color vision deficiencies (CVD) to that of students with normal color vision (CN).
Methods:
A school-based cross-sectional, cluster sample survey was conducted in Shanghai and Xinjiang Province from March 2006 to December 2006. A color vision test using pseudoisochromatic plates was employed to designate students as having CVD; this was then confirmed using a Farnsworth Munsell 100 hue test. Three classmates of each CVD subject were chosen as controls. Ophthalmic examinations were performed to evaluate the refractive status on CVD subjects as well as normal controls.
Results:
A total of 16,539 students were screened. 348 students with CVD and 1044 with CN received the ophthalmic examination. The prevalence of myopia in this CVD group was 45.63% and the CN control group was 65.80%. The difference was statistically significant. CVD students with this lower myopia rate correlated with shorter axial lengths as compared to the controls.
Conclusions:
Students with abnormal color vision presented with a significantly lower prevalence and milder degree of myopia than those with normal color vision. This may provide insight for future studies investigating the relationship between color vision and myopia.
Keywords: myopia • color vision